For the time being it has 'loosened' up a bit. Didn't happen to me recently or at least I didn't notice. And I even played from the same spot it happened to me the most.

Boy this game is clever. From things like making waypoints in high towers which helps you reach many places in the area via paragliding to cliffs getting slippery in the rain.

There's no other game series I know which let's you tackle puzzles in this way - the way you want. They're not overly hard, they're intelligently designed (for instance the barrels which you can use as weight for a switch are not thrown into your face, but are placed in a visible spot, you simply need to figure it out). Many puzzles can be solved by observing your surroundings and experimenting. But most importantly solving them is really satysfying.

And I really like how some things you can think of simply happen in this game: Paraglide onto your horse - you will auto mount it. Want hard reached apples from a tree? Cut it down etc

kiryu133 said:If it's the puzzle I think it is you don't even need the barrel...

Yeah it's in one of the first shrines.

And that's the joy behind it! I deduced that there are probably other ways to do it, but the barrels were first to catch my eye. Next example of this games neat design: near there barrels there was a spot upon seeing which I thought to myself: It would be nice if there was a ladder there. Guess what? It was. The game is very intuitive in my opinion, but that isn't suprising. It's how Zelda games are made afterall.

How's your Zelda BotW impressions? Probably so hooked, you can't even stop playing

Wanted to ask you guys how are you playing it, I mean are you free-roaming or going through the story? I decided to tackle one of the Divine Beast quests, the one closest to the starting point. I've heard the game is cleverly designed so that there's no 'correct' order of doing things.

I enjoy the battle system, although it can be a bit unfair with elemental damage. Being hit by a 'burning' weapon takes quite a chunk of health, but I find Shock arrows the most troublesome (and I'm short on wooden weapons ).

Oh and I finished the dreadful 'motion control' platform dungeon, it was really irritating probably the only badly designed moment in the game I witnessed so far (still, the way to overcome it was pretty interesting).

EDIT: [Mild Spoilers] Damn I'm proud of myself. Defeated a Lynel in Zora's Doamain which is said to be one of the hardest monster type to deafeat in the game (definately one of the most badass). He takes almost 5 hearts with one hit, so at this point in game it's basically a 2-hit KO. The best way to defeat him is close combat with backflip (X button) followed by a flurry (Y). Though you need a lot of attacks and a lot of swords (best one handed ones, cause you can block his attack with a shield). Turns out Wolf Link is very useful here. Poor doggy gets finished quickly but, either it's a glitch or an intended effect, when dying he paralyzes the Lynel so you can maw him down under 50% health before he even reacts. Happened to me two times so it
is repatable. Even so it's still challenging to defeat him.

Pro Tip: it's risky but get a picture of him, it's required for one quest in Zora city which gives you a nice [set] trousers as reward.

- You can take a photo of a treasure chest and use a sensor to track every chest in vicinity

- Hearty Truffle + Hearty Radish or simply a dish from Hearty Radishes will give you a lot of extra hearts (useful for tough bosses).

EDIT: This game keeps surprising me. I'm still getting a lot of "oh, you could do that?" moments the more then I play. Sure, I'm getting a few tricks from internet (usually to save time, like where to get x ingridient), but most things I discover on my own.

How's your Zelda BotW impressions? Probably so hooked, you can't even stop playing

*rubs eyes

this isnt a game, it is soo much more. this switch+botw is a friggin window into a whole other universe, that i can peer into instantly, any time, any where..
this is a revolution in both storytelling and human ingenuity

blob2 said:Wanted to ask you guys how are you playing it, I mean are you free-roaming or going through the story? I decided to tackle one of the Divine Beast quests, the one closest to the starting point. I've heard the game is cleverly designed so that there's no 'correct' order of doing things.

i spend almost all my time just exploring the world and the physics and chemistry systems (as the devs put it), and have barely touched the main plot. i dont even want to beat the game; but live in it forever

blob2 said:I enjoy the battle system, although it can be a bit unfair with elemental damage. Being hit by a 'burning' weapon takes quite a chunk of health, but I find Shock arrows the most troublesome (and I'm short on wooden weapons ).

i absolutely love being able to quickly pause the game at any point (and instantly sleep/wake the switch); this iteration feels much more like an rpg in so many ways

blob2 said:Oh and I finished the dreadful 'motion control' platform dungeon, it was really irritating probably the only badly designed moment in the game I witnessed so far (still, the way to overcome it was pretty interesting).

the contrast between exploring the over-world and solving the shrines presents a wonderful psychological/game-play dichotomy.

Btw I know you can use Octo Baloons in different ways but to tell you the truth I didn't experiment with them. Fortunately this movie showed me what those can do

Pro Tip: You can catch and tame a horse that is a descendant of Ganondorfs steed in Taobab Grassland near Mount Hylia (a big black horse, can't miss it). Not the fastest one but it's a beast (literally, it's huge) and a living ram with maximum strenght value.

So I've 'conquered' all four Divine Beasts and it's time to face Ganon... or not. I want to a explore a bit more, although "time is not on my side" as I want to play Horizon But at this point I think I've covered most of the interesting stuff: uncovered the whole map, seen all three Dragons, found all Horse Gear (Monster one included) and most armor sets etc, got Master Sword and conquered half of the Shrines. There are probably quite a few quests left but for one I think I've finished most of the village related ones at least. I really like Zora and Rito, Gerudo are so so but Goron are creepy as hell...

...when I finish maybe I talk some more, and maybe give the game a final verdict but I already know it will be somewhere around 9.5/10 Skyrim is still better for me.

Btw because I'm currently in the process of upgrading my Ancient Armor Set if there's one small thing in the whole game that the devs didn't quite think through it's this set I think. I mean at this point in game for instance I had a run when I mawed down at least 10 Guardians in a row and I barely got resources to upgrade the set by one level (not to mention the fact I needed almost my whole playthrough time to get enough machine parts to craft the set). My point is, what is the purpose of this armor (which in theory was created to fight Guardians if I assume correctly) if you need to be strong enough already to smash at least 50 Guardians (that's a fact, one Guardian gives you around 3-4 Ancient Gears and those are crucial)? What the heck?

And personally I think the only must-have armors are Soldiers Armor Set (the only one which defense actually holds up for me at this point), Climbers Armor Set and Zora Armor Set (because of their 'explore' ability boosts). Rubber one would be useful if I didn't go to Zoras domain at first Of course the 'climate resistant' ones are also useful, but you don't need to enchance them that much, you can always switch armors on the go if needed...

Well the main plotline at least. It was your 'standard' epic Zelda finale. It's a bit awkward that there is no postgame, but guess this makes sense, cause all you do in the game kinda 'readies' you for the final battle...

I will probably go back to the game a few times for some short runs, or if I'll find something interesting to check via internet for instance.

Like I said already this is a great game to expierience. Maybe not a breaktrough (the plot with all it's epicness and music is really simple), but still a solid 9+/10. I might've even give it a full note, but guess although it's almost a perfect game in it's own right (mechanics, artisctic and immersivness values), it didn't maybe have that 'little twist' or sth that would leave me in awe. Plus it doesn't have that "I wonder what quest I'll find in these accidentaly discovered ruins" type of thing you can find in Skyrim. What I mean is that it's perfectly crafted by it's own standards, but doesn't have that extra something. Maybe it's not this type of game?

For one, it's a perfect sandbox that you can complete in your own pace. Which is already plenty. Although Skyrim gave me more to do I think. Don't get me wrong, there are people who will find Skyrim a lesser game (for instance it had a lot of bugs, Zelda only real issues were it's framerate drops), but it still holds the nr 1 place in my sandbox RPG-esque ranking. Witcher 3 is a an entirely different type of game imo, more 'world-and-story-building' focused. I'm mentioning those two cause Zelda BotW creators mentioned themselves they were inspired by those two titles.

Whatever the case I fully recommend this game. I even think it's worth buying the Switch just for it. Nothing beats the possibility to take the game with you to whatever place you want